Wike rejects governors’ agreement with JUSUN, says ‘pact not binding on Rivers’

The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has rejected the new agreement between the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) on financial autonomy for the judiciary in states.

The governor, who stated this during the inauguration of the Senate Building of Rivers State University on Saturday, added that he was not consulted by his colleagues before the decision.

The governors and judicial workers had on Friday signed an agreement for implementation of the contentious financial autonomy in states.

At a meeting chaired by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, the two parties agreed on a 40-day window for implementation of financial autonomy in the states.

READ ALSO:JUSUN seeks direct payment of allocation to state judiciaries

Wike insisted that whatever agreement reached between the governors and JUSUN on the continued strike by the judiciary union was not binding on the Rivers State government.

He said it was unfortunate that NGF signed an agreement with the striking judicial workers on behalf of state governments and no one consulted with the Rivers State government on the contentious issue.

According to him, the agreement signed by the NGF and JUSUN not binding on state governors.

He said: “Rivers State government has implemented financial autonomy for the legislature and Judiciary. The judiciary has collected the first and second quarters of their capital fund. We still use our money to do infrastructure for them despite the fact that we release and give to them their capital expenditure.”

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